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Jony Ive reportedly felt that Tim Cook wasn’t interested in design

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Ive reportedly started showing up at Apple’s offices less often after the release of the Watch. Rather than an iPhone peripheral, Ive saw it was a fashion accessory, clashing with Apple executives over how to position it. The resulting device, at $349, sold only 10 million units (a quarter of the forecast), while “thousands” of copies of the $17,000 gold version went unsold, according to the WSJ.

Much like many Apple fans, Ive was supposedly frustrated with the change in company culture from the one — established by he and Jobs — where design ruled. He was not only disappointed by the fact that Tim Cook “showed little interest in the product development process,” but also that Apple’s Board was increasingly filled with directors that had no experience in Apple’s business.

Ive was promoted to Chief Design Officer shortly after the launch of the Watch, but only came to the office a couple of days a week, according to Bloomberg. Meetings were often moved to San Francisco where he lived, and even to hotels, homes of employees and other venues. “The team craved being around him,” said a WSJ source close to Apple leadership at the time. “He’s engaging. Him being around less was disappointing.”

Ive created numerous iconic projects with Apple, often as a result of discussions, debates and arguments with Jobs. That includes iconic products like the iPhone, iPad, iPod, MacBook Air, Apple Watch and even Apple’s new headquarters. However, recent products like the HomePod and iPhone X models have enjoyed less success, and Apple recently killed its AirPower charging pad, which Ive imagined as a catchall for Apple devices. According to the WSJ, however, “engineering tests found it behaved more like a dorm-room hot plate.”

Now his new design firm, “LoveFrom,” will reportedly be paid “millions of dollars a year to continue to work with Apple,” the WSJ said. That could give Ive the best of both worlds, only working on the stuff he wants for Apple without having to deal with internal politics.

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Scientists capture 4D atomic movement in breakthrough experiment

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Building on past research, the team used Berkeley Lab’s latest 3D electron microscope to examine an iron-platinum alloy sliced into nanoparticles 1/10,000th the width of a human hair. Those were heated to 968 degrees Fahrenheit, causing them to pass from one solid state to another. 3D images were grabbed at 9, 16 and 26 minutes after heating while the sample was rotated in the microscope.

Using special algorithms, the team tracked the same 33 nuclei, just 13 atoms wide, located in a single nanoparticle. “People think it’s difficult to find a needle in a haystack,” said UCLA physics and astonomy professor Jianwei “John” Miao in a statement. “How difficult would it be to find the same atom in more than a trillion atoms at three different times?”

As expected, the allow changed from a slightly random state to one where the platinum and iron atoms were more neatly aligned. However, the scientists noted that the nuclei formed irregular shapes rather than perfectly round ones predicted by long-existing theories. Furthermore, rather than having sharp borders as expected, the arrangement of atoms was more jumbled near the surface.

While those results might not sound exciting, it’s the first that nucleation has been seen in action. “Nucleation is basically an unsolved problem in many fields,” said co-author Peter Ercius. “Once you can image something, you can start to think about how to control it.” That could lead to better, stronger materials and a deeper understanding of crucial chemical and biological reactions.

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Amazon’s Fire TV Recast DVR box is $100 off today

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The compact box offers both DVR and streaming features, giving cord cutters an option to watch network TV content and sports broadcasts as well as streaming services like Netflix or Hulu. You can watch over-the-air-TV from channels like ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS or the CW or record shows to watch later. There’s also Alexa integration and you can use the device with your mobile device (iOS and Android) as well as Fire TV, Echo Show or Fire Tablet.

The deal comes in the lead-up to Amazon’s Prime Day, which is actually two days this year on July 15th and 16th. It’s also in advance of National Cut the Cord Day on July 7th, when streaming companies offer deals to tempt viewers away from their cable TV packages.

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NASA’s TESS spacecraft discovers its smallest exoplanet to date

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TESS spotted the planets by using transits (regular dips in the star’s brightness caused by passing planets). You might get more information soon, at least. TESS completes its first year of studies in July, and that could be enough to both collect more detail about the known planets and possibly spot more.

This isn’t a record for NASA as a whole. Kepler-37b, for instance, is barely larger than the Moon. This shows that TESS can spot a wide range of exoplanets, though, and raises hope that it’ll detect rocky worlds that warrant closer study with the James Webb Space Telescope. This isn’t just about the quest to find extrasolar life, either. The data could help explain why planets either become habitable or devolve into Venus-like hellscapes.

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Amazon gives Fire TV devices a section devoted to live television

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The section includes rows that highlight your recent channels as well as individual genres, including live news and sports. You can favorite channels to be sure they take priority in any given row.

The new tab will reach all American Fire TV users over the course of the next several days. It’s not a channel guide (there’s already an equivalent for Amazon Prime Channels users), so it won’t quite replace the browsing experience you might be used to from conventional TV. However, that’s not necessarily a problem. It might do the trick if you’re a cord-cutter who just can’t wait for an on-demand video to start watching.

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UAE debuts the world’s largest individual solar power project

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Not surprisingly, Abu Dhabi is keen to tout the environmental benefits. It estimates that Noor Abu Dhabi’s 3.2 million panels provide enough power for 90,000 people, and will lower CO2 emissions by 1 million metric tonnes (984,206 imperial tons). That’s the equivalent of pulling 200,000 cars off the roads, according to the emirate.

It’s hard to deny that the UAE is using the solar farm as a publicity tool. Although it should have a tangible effect on emissions, the reality is that the UAE is still heavily reliant on oil. It recently talked about cutting oil production to balance the market, not to shy away from fossil fuels. It remains an important development, though, and you can expect other record-setting solar projects before long. Emirates Water and Electric has early plans for a 2GW solar project, and Saudi Arabia has a basic agreement for 2.6GW of solar power in Mecca. The region is quickly becoming kinder to the planet, even if it’s not ready to ditch its most prized resource just yet.



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AMD denies improperly sharing CPU tech with China

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The company claimed that it “diligently and proactively” told the Commerce and Defense Departments (plus other agencies) about the Sugon deal, and that there were “no objections whatsoever” to either the joint ventures or the technology handover. AMD further argued that the report left out vital details, such as the “significant protections” put in place to prevent China from obtaining valuable tech. The WSJ report noted that AMD removed encryption from the hardware design it offered to China.

There’s little doubt that AMD benefited from the partnerships. Licensing fees and royalties netted AMD about $293 million, while selling a majority stake in its China and Malaysia factories to a government-supported investment fund generated another $371 million. These were significant windfalls at a time when AMD was struggling to compete with Intel and NVIDIA — now, it’s putting pressure on both through its latest CPUs and GPUs.

To some extent, the accusations are coming too late regardless of their accuracy. The Commerce Department recently issued export restrictions that cut off Chinese supercomputer makers, including Sugon. AMD currently has no choice but to sever ties with Sugon, and there’s no guarantee that it’ll get even a partial reprieve like Huawei did. The US government is anxious about anything that might help China replicate US technology and nullify a competitive edge, and it’s not willing to take chances no matter how careful companies like AMD might be.

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Facebook will fight misinformation linked to the 2020 US census

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The audit also signals changes in other areas, including how it studies civil rights issues once the audit is over. The civil rights task force created in December will be formalized and take on additional “expertise” across a range of issues, including voting rights experts who’ll recognize trends in voter suppression. Every senior leader in the task force will receive rights training, too, to be sure that these concepts form an important part of Facebook’s product decisions.

You can expect a wider crackdown on white supremacists. The audit recommends taking action against white nationalism and separatism even when those terms aren’t referenced by name, and Facebook will follow suit by spotting “slogans and symbols” linked to those hate movements. The firm already has a pilot program in place that devotes some reviewers to focusing on hate speech.

It’s too soon to know how well any of these changes will work. The approach to the census, however, indicates that Facebook is taking a more proactive approach to fighting misinformation. It knows that social media manipulators are targeting many politically sensitive issues, not just elections, and clearly doesn’t want to risk being asleep while hostile actors skew important political moments.

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Apple won’t offer a Netflix-like quantity of TV shows

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Instead, you could expect a steady feed of new material. Apple is planning to release new movies and shows every month, with the first likely to be the Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon collaboration The Morning Show. Other shows will include Ron Moore’s For All Mankind, Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories and the Little America series from Big Sick creators Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon.

Whether or not this strategy pays off isn’t certain. Netflix has been accused of sometimes overwhelming viewers, with only a handful of originals really meriting close attention, but that also gives you plenty to consider across a variety of genres. Will Apple TV+ have enough to keep subscribers coming back? It hasn’t outlined what (if anything) it will offer besides originals. Throw in new competition from the likes of Disney and WarnerMedia and Apple will have plenty of rivals with interesting originals of their own.

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New electric cars in Europe have to make artificial noises

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All new EVs, including those from existing lineups, will have to include noisemakers by 2021. Cars already on the streets are likely to get retrofits.

The rules won’t please everyone. The charity Guide Dogs and other accessibility advocates have called for electric cars to make sounds at all speeds. It might also irk people hoping that EVs could usher in an era of far quieter streets. Still, this could increase practical safety and help EVs gain acceptance from people worried they could become hazards.



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